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Trains carrying dangerous goods return to Lac-Mégantic

On July 5, 2013, a train carrying highly volatile oil exploded in the Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic, causing the deaths of 47 people. Since the explosion in 2013, only dry goods trains have passed through Lac-Mégantic – but in 2016 dangerous-goods trains will once again roll through the town.

Lac-Mégantic fought to have the train tracks moved to outside of the town. Fortress Investment Group, the company that now owns the tracks, decided not to reroute them because of the cost. This raises important questions: why does a private company have so much more control over rail line location than the government? How much control does the Canadian government actually have over the country’s railroads?

The issue of trains running through Lac-Mégantic has been covered by mainstream media such as CBC but their coverage stated that only dry goods trains would run through the town, without an update when this changed. The Wall Street Journal, reported on July 4, 2014 that there was a chance that dangerous goods trains might run through Lac-Mégantic but they never reported once the decision was made certain. The only person to report on the decision to have these trains run through the town was Justin Mikulka, writing for the environmental news site DeSmogBlog on Jan. 3, 2015.

About this project

“Project Censored is one of the organizations that we should listen to, to be assured that our newspapers and our broadcasting outlets are practicing thorough and ethical journalism.” —Walter Cronkite

The School of Journalism's Top 25 Under-Reported Stories was developed in partnership with Project Censored. Project Censored was founded in 1976 as part of a media literacy course in Sonoma, California. Today it is operated by the Media Freedom Foundation. Hundreds of students across the U.S. and around the world contribute information about under-reported stories. Every year, the Media Freedom Foundation picks 25 to publish in their annual book. Project Censored on the Web.